Sexual minority identity development and mental health: New methodological, contextual, and population insights

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Sexual identity development processes matter for sexual minority youth’s (SMY) mental health, yet when, how, and for whom these processes matter varies. As rapidly shifting sociocultural contexts of sexual diversity reshape the timing, order, and experiences that comprise sexual identity development, new insights are needed to understand the circumstances that support contemporary SMY to thrive as they develop and understand their sexual identities. In this symposium, we present four papers that leverage new methods, contexts, and populations for understanding associations between sexual identity development processes with SMY’s mental health. Paper 1 uses structural equation modeling to examine associations between a multidimensional index of sexual identity disclosure and concealment, psychological outcomes, and school experiences among a large and diverse sample of SMY. Paper 2 compares cross-sectional (within-wave t-tests) with longitudinal (difference-in-difference) models to explore the implications for relations among outness, mental health, and minority stress. Paper 3 combines data from three distinct generations of sexual minority adolescents to test whether and how sexual identity development timing, LGBT-related victimization, and depressive symptoms are related, and whether these relations vary across generations. Finally, paper 4 explores variability in sexual identity development timing across asexual vs. allosexual (i.e., non-asexual) SMY and associations with mental health. Together, these papers illuminate the importance of accounting for the diverse biopsychosocial contexts that shape associations between sexual identity development with mental health.

Sub Unit

• Sex, Gender

Chair

• Meg Bishop, University of Maryland - College Park

Individual Presentations

• Disclosure and concealment in school: Implications for sexual minority youth school experiences and mental health - Presenting Author: Zhenqiang Zhao, Fordham University; Russell B Toomey, University of Arizona; Amanda Pollitt, Northern Arizona University

• Changes in outness to peers and friends and implications for mental health - Presenting Author: Allen Mallory, Ohio State University; Meg Bishop, University of Maryland - College Park; Stephen T Russell, University of Texas at Austin

• The developmental collision hypothesis: An empirical test among three generations of sexual minority youth - Presenting Author: Meg Bishop, University of Maryland - College Park; Jessica Fish, University of Maryland - College Park; Stephen T Russell, University of Texas at Austin

• Age of identity realization among asexual and non-asexual LGB youth and associations with wellbeing - Presenting Author: Katelyn Jane Pitcher, University of Connecticut; Rhiannon L. Smith, University of Connecticut; Ryan J Watson, University of Connecticut